Death comes on Tattered Wings
by Emerald Embers
Summary: Zephon's thoughts before the battle


Death comes on Tattered Wings  
by Emerald Embers  
Louise_cmi_vc@hotmail.com  
Rated R for violence.  
Spoilers for the battles with Melchiah and Zephon.  
No copyright infringements intended.  
Please don't flame me, I've never written an LOK:SR fanfic before! Otherwise, R&R.  
  
[Zephon]  
  
As I awaited the arrival of my brother Raziel, I tried to imagine what he would look like. Surely time had affected him in the abyss, as it affected us all? I found myself flexing one of my legs almost unconsciously, viewing the result of my change. Turel I had not seen in a long time, but I had no doubt that he would have weakened in his time away from the clans, regardless of his still being second in command. Dumah had always retained his human shape. Rahab was, and had always been, pathetic.  
  
And Melchiah did not deserve to be called a vampire, even less a lieutenant. A scuttler by nature, he had confined himself to an iron prison whish only he and Kain could enter without assistance. Some of the lower vampires had nicknamed me 'the scuttler', but this title was far more worthy of Melchiah. 'Scuttler' implied coward, the one word custom made to describe my brother, and should never have been used to describe the majestic grace with which an insect moves; a grace which I, Zephon, surely shared in.  
  
My thoughts were interrupted by vibrations of sound... a bell, struck with force I did not think my brother capable of, and I found my thoughts returning to him. Raziel, the traitor, whose arrogance in overtaking the master's own evolution was appalling. I remembered vaguely when he first unfolded his wings and displayed them to our lord; but that was many, many years ago now, and the memories were somewhat distorted.  
  
I wondered what had happened with those wings in the abyss. Melted away? Maybe new bone structure? Or were they still the bleeding tatters Kain had made of them himself? There had been a strange beauty in watching the master rip out the bones in one swift movement, holding them like tree branches as my brother collapsed to the floor, shifting once before falling unconscious with the pain. Hmm. Maybe beauty wasn't quite the word... more a morbid fascination. And the combined thrill and fear of change.  
  
Kain had seemed somewhat... distant, since Raziel had been cast into the abyss. I did not truly believe that he regretted killing his first-born, Kain seemed somehow removed from that sort of emotion. Then again, if one was to believe the rumours that ran throughout Nosgoth, he could well be missing Raziel in an altogether... different manner. It had long been believed that Raziel never was the strongest of us, and tales had spread to the effect that my older brother had gained his position through... how shall I put this politely... allowing Kain to put him in an altogether different position?  
  
Of course, these rumours were to be taken with a pinch of salt, but although we had all regarded the master as being less than attractive, that did not mean Kain couldn't find us attractive. And in his vampiric days, Raziel had been a prime example of male beauty - something that even the humans did not fail to pick up on. An ethereal spirit, perfectly suited to his ethereal wings, even if they were quickly and violently parted from each other.  
  
Then again, why should I be wasting my time with past jealousy, if the object of it was soon to be despatched at my own hands? Vibrations on my web showed me how close my brother was getting, and I felt the glands of my mouth start to produce saliva in anticipation of the meal surely coming to me. Deciding to surprise my brother and thus give me the advantage in battle, I pinned my legs flat against the ceiling and folded inwards, suppressing a chuckle that begged to escape.  
  
Finally I felt deceptively light feet step on the thin skin of mine that covered the floor - feet that in reality could crush bones with ease - and I contracted the muscles of mine that had been holding the door open. As I stretched up again, I roared at my brother. Just for fun.  
  
How disappointing.  
  
It was almost pitiful to look at Raziel now. Once the most spellbindingly attractive of all vampires, male or female, now all that remained of him was this hollowed out, almost fully destroyed... being. No longer vampire, human, or even demon, but something else entirely. An awkward silence fell briefly as we looked over each other's developments.  
  
It was I who spoke first.  
  
"The prodigal son. There is no returning for you, Raziel." I found myself smirking at my prey.  
  
"Zephon. Your visage becomes you." I could almost imagine a mocking smile twisting his lips, the same one he had used to accompany teasing comments aimed at me before the abyss. "It is an appropriate reflection of your soul." It suddenly occurred to me how surreal this moment was; if the contours of the scarf around his neck told the truth, Raziel had no lower jaw. How could he speak if half his magnificent bone structure was gone?  
  
Not one for deep thought, and certainly not one to let an insult go unpunished, I replied, "And you are not as handsome Raziel, anymore. His precious first born son turned betrayer." My smirk grew as he flinched. Maybe the rumours had been true. Not losing the momentum of my ongoing taunt, I continued, "You have missed so many changes, little Raziel. Look around you. See how the human's weapon of destruction has become my home. Indeed, my body. A cocoon of brick and granite from which to watch a pupating world."  
  
Never one to let an argument fester, Raziel growled, "A crevice in which to cower. Only scuttling from the shadows to devour a victim already ensnared in your cowardly trap." Raziel gestured to the human warrior I had shorn in half with my leg at the door. "But you made the mistake of leaving me unbound. And it is you that must succumb to *my* will."  
  
I laughed. "Will! Instinct! Reflects action. The insect mind finds little difference. I warn you brother, as my stature has grown, so it is matched by my appetite." I paused and dropped my legs from the ceiling, swallowed some of the saliva collecting in my mouth. Oh, this was going to be a delicious fight, with hopefully an equally delicious prize. "Step forward, morsel!"  
  
Raziel ran at me and hit me as hard as he could, armed with the Soul Reaver. Hmmph. I laughed and stabbed him with one of my legs, felt him writhe as I tore the flesh of his back open by twisting it. Raziel struggled, then surprised me by actually hitting the leg, which shattered on contact. How could this be?! My body felt no pain on being struck, so why did this agony come from a mere leg? As I wailed aloud I felt my abdomen lose its hold on an egg, and before I could do anything, Raziel had grabbed hold of it and retreated out of reach to the back of the cave. Well, at some time he was going to have to move from there - I had no intention of letting him escape.  
  
Raziel seemed somewhat confused by the egg, and more than a little disgusted by it. He looked around and set it alight on the flamethrower of the human slain at the doorway to my lair, threw it at the wall to get rid of it, and seemed even more confused when it exploded into a mass of flames. Slowly but surely, a smile grew in his burning blue eyes and tensed the remaining muscles of his face. "Appropriate that your own body should be the cause of your own destruction, isn't it, brother?" I growled and stabbed at him with my leg in frustration, but he merely laughed and dodged out of the way, hit the stuck leg so that it was as helpless as the other had been, grabbed the next egg to be released from my cramp-seized abdomen.  
  
The only difference this time was that, having set the egg alight, he turned around and flung it at me. I screamed aloud in burning agony and he growled, settling into a pattern now despite my increasingly desperate swipes at him. The third egg hit my already severely damaged body and this time the flames took hold of my body, licking up my limbs in painful streams of fire.  
  
"Now you know something of what I had to suffer for centuries, Zephon. CENTURIES!" Ignoring his words, I continued flailing about and trying to put out the fire; but it was useless. "NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!!" Feeling my soul detach itself from my body, I thought of what would become of me in death, looked at Raziel who seemed somewhat vulnerable as he waited for me to die. My soul unhinged itself and travelled towards him.  
  
This is my gift to you, fallen brother. Use it wisely...  
  
Then all went black.  
  
The End 


End file.
